EBay phishing fraudster jailed

The leader of a gang that stole nearly £200,000 from customers in an eBay phishing scam has been jailed for four years.

David Levi, 29, is thought to be the first person in the UK to be convicted of phishing.

Levi led six others in a gang who conned eBay traders into giving away their passwords and account details by sending scam e-mails pretending to be from California-based eBay. More than 160 eBay users are thought to have been conned in the 12 months between July 2003 and July 2004.

Customers who clicked the link in the e-mail were sent to a bogus Web site where they were asked to type in log-ins and passwords. The gang then used this data to hi-jack the accounts. They offered goods for sale on the eBay site - supposedly from the actual account holder - but then stole the money.

Levi was jailed for three years for fraud and another year for perverting the course of justice. The other gang members received terms ranging from six months to two years.